Pages

Friday, May 27, 2011

How to destroy the Church of England (with NZ postscript)

Behold, though dead yet he speaketh, the late Colin Slee, recently Dean of Southwark, is having one last slash of the knife tearing the fabric of the Church of England. Andrew Brown writing in the Guardian reports on a memo written by Colin Slee outlining some of the communications, including some shouting, which attended various appointments and non-appointments of C of E bishops. An unexpected (not) chorus of denouncing of the ABC and ABY is faithfully linked at The Lead.

It is easy to get wound up over the appalling behaviour narrated by Colin Slee. Harder, of course, to refrain from judgment until the respective archbishops have given their version of events. But let us suppose that the archbishops were 'men behaving badly,' might it be worth asking why they would be so wound up as to vent anger in conversations, formal and informal, about appointing people who would excite controversy, if not division in the church? Indeed, might the unwelcome prospect of controversy, worse, of division, be unsettling for leaders whose role is to hold the church together, not to preside over its destruction? Slee seems to have no appreciation of the consequences of the archbishops benignly presiding over an appointment process which (they obviously felt) would lead to Armageddon and not the Garden of Eden.

If I were an English clergyperson I would be pleased to know that I belonged to a church whose archbishops cared so much for its unity. Whether I were also disappointed or pleased that I belonged to a church that blocked the appointment of gay men to the episcopacy, I think I would be pleased about the commitment to unity.

Clearly the Church of England has a lot of talking to do about how (and if) it can find a way forward so that (1) conservatives are happy, (2) liberals are happy, (3) the archbishops are not placed under so much strain. Whether the Slee memo will inspire that conversation to new levels of honesty and appreciation of the changes that need to take place for the 21st century diversity of the C of E to move forward harmoniously remains to be seen. Likely the memo will simply fire up new levels of anger all around the church.

NEW ZEALAND POSTSCRIPT

The Slee memo is interesting Down Under because of this paragraph:

"In churches with an electoral system (which I do not advocate), not only are the candidates sent all the papers of themselves and of the other candidate and their references (as I was for two dioceses in New Zealand), but the entire electoral synod receives the papers. That obviates unnecessary confidentiality."

This is intriguing. It is well-known in our church that Colin Slee was a candidate in two elections. In one case the names of candidates were never officially published to the wider world, and thus should have been confidential to the process of that election. However shortly after the election a report in the Times (as I recall) named Slee as a candidate who did not succeed and named the successful candidate. In the other case, the Diocese of Auckland, they chose to publish the names on their diocesan website and Colin Slee's name was there for all the world to see. None of this is intriguing. Here is what is: Slee's claim that the candidates are sent the papers and references of the other candidates. Now, for all I know, that may have happened in the Auckland election as a courtesy acted on by the diocesan office. But as far as I know, in the other election papers were not officially distributed to the other candidates, which raises the interesting question of how those confidential papers came to be sent to Colin Slee. It is not as though he had a vote in the election himself ... :)

3 comments:

"Whether I were also disappointed or pleased that I belonged to a church that blocked the appointment of gay men to the episcopacy, I think I would be pleased about the commitment to unity." - Peter Carrell -

'Unity before Justice' could well be your catch-cry, then Peter! I don't have such a subjective attitude towards unity myself. Certainly this is a well-known R.C. characteristic, where unity is seen as only possible through the See of Peter. That is the sort of unity I think you are talking about here.

And as for your dismissive remarks about Colin Slee - whom I happened to know personally - I think you are being a little disingenuous. There can be little doubt that his appointment in the N.Z. Church was probably inhibited by the vocal evangelical anti-gay fraternity - which is not surprising really. No doubt you would have been upset by Colin's preferment to Christchurch.

The appalling behaviour of the two C.of E. Archbishops at the Southwark Meeting has been noted by other authorities involved, but only Colin was brave enough to release a memo about it. But I can understand your point of view on this issue - it matches up with what I would have expected.

Hi Ron,The only way a person can be 'inhibited' from becoming a bishop in our church is if the house of bishops or the General Synod determined not to confirm the nomination made by a diocesan electoral college.

Colin Slee simply did not succeed to obtain enough votes to become the nomination of each electoral college which considered his candidacy. I do not think the situation can be described in terms of this or that group inhibiting his preferment. In contrast to the English system ...!

Flexible Recent Comment Widget for Blogger

Solidarity

Anglican Down Under

Welcome to this blog on Anglican, theological, biblical and other matters, mostly missional or liturgical (but I reserve the right to write about cricket). It is grounded in some islands at the bottom of the world which, together with a large island to our west, constitute fabulous Down Under.

Sometimes I pursue such a fine centrist line that I annoy people on either side of the line. If you do not like being annoyed then you know what to do.

I work for the Diocese of Christchurch and for Theology House, Christchurch. Views expressed here are not necessarily the views of either organisation. But I harbour the hope that what I say here is helpful to those with whom I am in fellowship because of these two entities!

ACANZP

ACANZP stands for Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. In Aotearoa New Zealand this church is also known as Te Haahi Mihinare - The Missionary Church. (I work in ministry training and theological education in this church as Director of Education and Director of Theology House in the Diocese of Christchurch. Views expressed here are personal and not those of the Diocese, but the intent is not to express any personal views contradictory of the Diocese's).

Icon

Followers

Pearls

Show us anything clearly set forth in Holy Scripture that we do not teach and we will teach it. Show us anything in our teaching or practice is clearly contrary to Holy Scripture, and we will abandon it.

Stephen Neill

For the glory of God is a human being fully alive, and the glory of humanity is the vision of God.

St Irenaeus

Fundamentally the Gospel is obsessed with the idea of the unity of human society.

Masure

We have returned to the Apostles and the old Catholic Fathers. We have planted no new religion, but only preserved the old that was undoubtedly founded and used by the Apostles of Christ and other holy Fathers of the Primitive Church.

Bishop Jewel

Preachers shall behave themselves modestly and soberly in every department of their life. But especially shall they see to it that they teach nothing in the way of a sermon, which they would have religiously held and believed by the people, save what is agreeable to the teaching of the Old or New Testament, and what the Catholic fathers and ancient bishops have collected from this selfsame doctrine.

Canon 6 from the 1571 Bishop’s Convocation

Kent: "See better, Lear, and let me still remain."

William Shakespeare

For the clarity that we are aiming at is indeed complete clarity. But this simply means that the philosophical problems should completely disappear. Wittgenstein

Justice is eternal, and doesn't depend at all on human conventions.

Montesquieu

The real challenge of Islam to Western intellectual discourse is for us to ask ourselves whether our unprecedented modern experiment of conducting political life with no transcendent values is really working out as well as we once hoped.

Harvey Cox

The long-term happiness of a society depends on how individuals behave towards each other, how families hold together, and how leaders keep the trust of people.

William Hague

Where orthodoxy is optional, orthodoxy will sooner or later be proscribed.

John Neuhaus

To be an evangelical is not, first and foremost, about doctrinal correctness, but about a passion for the gospel of salvation from sin through Christ for eternity.

John Richardson

Neither may we ... lightly esteem what hath been allowed as fit in the judgement of antiquity, and by the long continued practice of the whole church; from which unnecessarily to swerve, experience hath never as yet found it safe.

Richard Hooker (Lawes, V.7.1)

The function of the Christian canon was to separate the apostolic witness from the ongoing tradition of the church, whose truth was continually in need of being tested by the apostolic faith.

Brevard S. Childs

Every word of God proves true. (Proverbs 30:5)

If the people of this religion are asked about the proof for the soundness of their religion, they flare up, get angry and spill the blood of whoever confronts them with this question. They forbid rational speculation, and strive to kill their adversaries. This is why truth became thoroughly silenced and concealed.

Muhammad ibn Zakariya Razi

Change comes through ordinary working people organising themselves to struggle for a better world day in, day out.

Morning Star newspaper editorial Tuesday 5 May 2015

"In the soft grey silence he could hear the bump of the balls: and from here and from there through the quiet air the sound of the cricket bats: pick, pack, pock, puck: like drops of water in a fountain falling softly in the brimming bowl."

James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Something to think about

Given that, like it or not, much Anglican Communion trouble at root is about dispute over what the church should teach about homosexuality, two papers here may be helpful. They represent, in my view, some of the best arguments for and against setting aside or obeying Scripture's teaching. If only the authors were Anglican ...

Moderation Policy

Ad hominem attacks, potentially libellous comments, and comments with the appearance of being generated by a machine are liable to be rejected. Try hard not to use these words and their cognates: bigot, hypocrite, homophobia. Figure it out!

My strong preference here is for NO anonymous commenters. Please supply at least a first name. Some non de plumes allowed here belong to people I know personally. Anonymous comments published here likely pass on content grounds. Anonymity combined with ad hominisms = strike out.

Subscribe To

About Me

Blog Top Sites

Pageviews last month

Visitor Locations

Glossary

For people for whom NZ English is not their native tongue here are some translations of regular Maori words used here or in linked articles: Aotearoa: name for New Zealand; aroha: love; Ariki: lord; Atua: God; hui: gathering, assembly, conference; hui amorangi: regional area under leadership of regional bishop within Te Pihopatanga o Aotearoa (Diocese of Aotearoa); kai: food; kai moana: sea food; Ihu: Jesus; iwi: tribe; Karaiti: Christ; Kotahitanga/Te Kotahitanga: within ACANZP, the council responsible for drawing together the hopes and aspirations of the three tikanga for theological education and ministry training and transforming them into policy and into recommendations to the St John's College Trust Board for expenditure of educational funds; also the Board of Governors of St John's College (the primary, but not the only object of SJCTB expenditure); koha: gift, responsive gift to hospitality offered; mana: power, respect, honour; marae: community meeting area, including meeting hall and dining room; mihi: speech; moana: sea, ocean; pihopa: bishop; pihopatanga: bishopric, diocese; powhiri: welcome ceremony; rangimarie: peace; tangata: people; tangi: funeral; taonga: treasure; tikanga: culture, cultural stream, within ACANZP: one of the three strands, Maori [Te Pihopatanga o Aotearoa], Pakeha [NZ Dioceses], or Pasefika (Diocese of Polynesia) which make up our whole church under the authority of General Synod while being self-governing for many aspects of church life in each of the tikanga; waiata: song; wairua: spirit; Wairua Tapu: Holy Spirit; waka: canoe; whanau: family, extended family.